People who don’t understand French, or the EU, or immigration & frontier control, really shouldn’t comment on @MichelBarnier talking (in French) about those subjects.
▪️the EU should strengthen the Schengen external frontier. (Note: the UK wasn’t in Schengen); /2.
▪️France, a sovereign nation in the EU, while still allowing students & refugees to come, should pause immigration from non-EU countries for a few years. /3.
To improve France’s systems, its ability to combat people traffickers & its arrangements with non-EU/EEA countries for returning illegal immigrants. (Note: the UK, like France & every other EU member state, always had those powers). /4.
You might think he’s talking sense. You might think not.
What you can’t claim, unless you’re simply not listening, or you’re lying, is that this video shows him suggesting any of the following:
- imposing border controls between EU &/or EEA countries. /5.
(He’s specifically asked & makes clear he’s talking about the Schengen external frontier).
- ending or in any way restricting the right to free movement within the EU/EEA (i.e. the Treaty rights of EU/EEA citizens to enter, reside & work in any EU/EEA country); /6.
- stopping, or even reducing (other than to France, from non-EU/EEA countries, for a period) immigration into the EU/EEA; /7.
- any measures which would have had the slightest relevance to @David_Cameron’s threadbare & ill-conceived EU “renegotiation” in 2015, in preparation for his highly successful, UK-enhancing EU referendum in 2016. The benefits of which continue to astonish. Every day. /8.
But if you’re implying he’s done so already in the video, or signalled he will, it reveals everything about your preference for fantasy over fact, nothing about external reality. /9. End
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UK vaccine distribution, which has been better than many, worse than some, doesn’t bring dead people back. Nor does it reverse bereavement. Of 130,000 Covid deaths in the UK, the vast majority were entirely avoidable. /2.
Even taking a lenient view of a series of catastrophic failures last year, 100,000 were. US research suggests a “kin bereavement multiplier” of 9. This looks at family, not friends. Including the latter would give a higher multiplier. /3.
Yes. The parliamentary election on 6 May returned a majority of MSPs from parties with it as a manifesto commitment. A prominent one (obviously).
Full stop.
But, if you want to play Vote Count Lotto, do it properly.
A 🧵. /1.
For that, you need to know what the Scottish electoral system is. And, if you do know, acknowledge its nature & implications.
So, a recap. Bear with me. /2.
It’s a form of proportional representation. Specifically, an “additional member” system. Somewhat over half the seats are voted for on a constituency basis (“first past the post” or plurality voting: whoever gets the most votes wins the seat). /3.
Most of England - politicians, media, public - has little idea of the extraordinary political event which has taken place in Scotland.
The same’s true of many Scottish unionists.
The Union’s closer to break up than any time in 314 years.
Ostriches won’t save it. What might?/1.
Because opinion on independence is approx. evenly split (itself a huge deal: around half of people in Scotland want to leave the UK!) relatively small shifts can tip the balance.
And, no doubt, everything will be tried to achieve that. /2.
But, what’s really made a difference to support for independence is England’s & Westminster’s descent into what’s perceived as chaotically unreliable, untrustworthy, incompetent & cruel governance. /3.
The maximum constituency wins @theSNP can now achieve is 62.
So they’ll need 3 regional list seats for an overall majority (65).
BBC says that isn’t on. I’m less sure. (@WhatScotsThink is the BBC analyst, so I say it with trepidation). /1.
Either way, to be certain we’re going to have to wait for the regional list results.
If the @theSNP doesn’t get an overall majority there’ll almost certainly be a parliamentary majority for independence, as @scottishgreens will win a number of seats. /2.
The territorial integrity of the United Kingdom has never been less likely to survive. Since a century ago, when the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland ended.
Northern Ireland’s been part defenestrated, by the UK’s choice to leave the EU customs union & single market. /3.
▪️These are national parliamentary elections. Not local.
▪️The most prominent issue in them has been whether one nation (Scotland) should hold a referendum on leaving union of nations (UK). /1.
▪️A parliamentary majority for an independence referendum will be just that. Given Scotland’s proportional voting system, that’s as good & constitutionally sound an expression of democratic will as you’ll find. (Note: in a Westminster system, the SNP would have 80%+ of MSPs). /2.
▪️Such a majority looks likely: SNP + Greens. We’ll find out later.
▪️It’s possible, but less likely, that the SNP will achieve a governing majority on its own: 65 or more MSPs out of 129. More likely: SNP just below that, & a governing majority in coalition with the Greens. /3.
The sister of a colleague is having trouble with the truth, liars, lies, lying & falsehoods. She doesn’t know what they are. She has over a million Twitter followers & a huge media profile.
I worry for my colleague. Her sister. And the UK. I thought I might try to help.
A🧵/1.
The @OED will, I hope, forgive me for the inevitable process of simplification I’m about to apply to their learned entries. But I’ll try to avoid recreating the farrago of nonsense we’ve been seeing on the subject of truth & lying.
Let’s start with the meaning of “true”. /2.
This is quite easy really. For those not easily distracted by inverted pyramids of piffle.